The convoy returned to the estate as afternoon light stretched long and golden across the overgrown gardens, exhausted but largely intact, and I ran to meet Ronan the moment his bike cleared the gates, relief flooding through me so completely that I nearly stumbled in my haste to reach him.
He caught me easily, pulling me close despite the blood and grime covering nearly every inch of him, and for a long moment neither of us spoke, simply holding tight to the solid reality of each other after hours of fearing this exact reunion might never come.
You're alive, I said finally, muffled against his chest.
Barely, he admitted, though his tone carried more relief than complaint. That fight in the well house chamber was closer than I want to admit, even now that it's over.
Behind him, the res
